The Crab Nebula, located 6,500 years from Earth, was formed by a supernova explosion witnessed by astronomers in 1054. This image, a combination of data from five telescopes, shows a pulsar at the center: A dense neutron star that emits rotating radio waves and light beams.

In this Hubble image, two separate galaxies pass each other at 1,243,000 miles per hour, from only 20,000 light-years away. Because of their proximity, the galaxies change each other’s shape as they move.

This image, taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the Hargraves Crater. The collision that shaped it impacted deep bedrock on Mars, creating ejecta of varied textures and colors, from turquoise to deep purple.

Due to a 10-second exposure, this image shows the Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) shining a green light across the icy Atacama Desert in Chile.

This image of Saturn’s north polar region was taken from 560,000 miles away by the Cassini spacecraft in direct sunlight, which provides a more detailed view. Despite the direct light, sunlight is only 1% as strong as on Earth, since Saturn’s sun is 10 times as distant from the planet as ours.

This image taken by the Cassini spacecraft shows propellers within Saturn’s A ring, visible as double dashes. The propellers here range in size, which will help scientists investigate how they are formed.

Space Photos of the Week: Cranky Old Crab Nebula Still Knows How to Twist and Shout

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Space Photos of the Week: Cranky Old Crab Nebula Still Knows How to Twist and Shout

The Crab Nebula, located 6,500 years from Earth, was formed by a supernova explosion witnessed by astronomers in 1054. This image, a combination of data from five telescopes, shows a pulsar at the center: A dense neutron star that emits rotating radio waves and light beams.

In this Hubble image, two separate galaxies pass each other at 1,243,000 miles per hour, from only 20,000 light-years away. Because of their proximity, the galaxies change each other’s shape as they move.

This image, taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the Hargraves Crater. The collision that shaped it impacted deep bedrock on Mars, creating ejecta of varied textures and colors, from turquoise to deep purple.

Due to a 10-second exposure, this image shows the Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) shining a green light across the icy Atacama Desert in Chile.

This image of Saturn’s north polar region was taken from 560,000 miles away by the Cassini spacecraft in direct sunlight, which provides a more detailed view. Despite the direct light, sunlight is only 1% as strong as on Earth, since Saturn’s sun is 10 times as distant from the planet as ours.

This image taken by the Cassini spacecraft shows propellers within Saturn’s A ring, visible as double dashes. The propellers here range in size, which will help scientists investigate how they are formed.

Humanity marvels at the celestial objects dancing in the night sky, but can't witness the birth of a star or examine the craggy landscape of a far-flung planet with the naked eye. That's why we build telescopes and probes to give us a better glimpse of the great unknown.

One such wonder is the Crab Nebula, some 6,500 light-years from Earth. Astronomers recorded the massive supernova explosion in 1054. Over 900 years later, the supernova remnant contains a dense neutron star called a pulsar which still rotates once every 33 milliseconds, emitting radio waves and beams of light. This week, astronomers produced a highly detailed view of the Crab Nebula, combining images from five telescopes — radio waves captured by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, infrared from the Spitzer Space Telescope, visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope, ultraviolet from the XMM-Newton, and X-ray waves from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The composite image lets you gaze upon the nebula in all its glory.

Hubble captured yet another spectacular sight — two galaxies speeding past each other at 1,243,000 miles-per-hour and only 20,000 light-years apart. The galaxies are moving too fast to merge, but instead, warp each other's shape as they zip by. The Reconnaissance Orbiter continues to beam back fascinating photos of Mars, and Cassini plugs along on its fateful journey to show us never-before-seen photos of Saturn.